If it follows through with the request, JCC would authorize the school, which would be located on its campus, said Cindy Allen, vice president of administration. But another outside entity could run the program, she said.

“We want to be fair,” Allen said. “Maybe there is another party with more experience that is interested in coming in to run the school.”

However, the JCC administration will be submitting its own proposal to run the school, Allen said.

“We would love to be in the forefront of a high-reaching new initiative that we believe will be beneficial to students and the community,” Allen said.

The early college would cover sixth through 12th grades and add a 13th grade. It would allow students to earn both a high school diploma and an associate degree, or up to two years of credit toward a bachelor’s degree, upon graduation.

The school would provide innovative, relevant and rigorous learning opportunities and operate on a year-round calendar, according to a JCC press release. It would open with sixth through 11th grades, add the 12th grade the following year and the 13th grade the year after that, the release said.

The school would be similar to a program JCC has done jointly with the Lenawee County Intermediate School District in Adrian since 2010, college officials said.

The tuition-free early college would be located in a separate facility on JCC’s main campus but would not be funded by JCC tax dollars, Allen said. It would receive the same per-student state aid for every child enrolled, just like the county’s other K-12 public schools do.

Enrollment would be open to all interested students, Allen said.

“We believe this school offers another option to families,” she said.

JCC has been approached by existing schools asking it to authorize their charters, Allen said.

“We chose not to do that because we want to have involvement in setting up a school from the ground up,” she said.